Oak Furnitureland has the purpose of supplying beautiful and high-quality furniture products made from real wood for real homes. Solid hardwood is at the heart of the business and the reason why over half a million customers per year purchase their products. The natural beauty, durability, and quality of solid hardwood furniture, which is designed and built to last, makes it a naturally sustainable product.

THE CHALLENGE

There has been a growing interest from Oak Furnitureland’s stakeholders on how the company manages its social, environmental and governance (ESG) matters to support sustainable growth. Oak Furnitureland understands the importance of improving its ESG performance and has been implementing a range of initiatives across the company to drive positive change.

Oak Furnitureland is committed to bringing superior products to its customers. But how customers perceive the quality of products goes beyond the product itself, moving into adjacent areas such as packaging and recyclability, transport of products to their homes, wellbeing of employees, responsible sourcing of timber, and ethics in the supply chain.

However, considering the magnitude of the ESG space, with complex issues ranging from climate change to sustainable sourcing of materials to human rights in supply chain, it is imperative to prioritise issues, devise appropriate action plans and allocate resources effectively to maximise impact.

To ensure an appropriate response to the various pressing ESG issues and mitigate future risks from regulatory or market changes, Oak Furnitureland embarked on the journey of business transformation. The company’s stakeholders came together to assess the ESG areas that matter most to the organisation and have the greatest impact to inform its sustainability strategy.

THE SOLUTION

Bringing together Oak Furnitureland’s stakeholders to collaborate on demystifying the key ESG areas to formulate their long-term sustainability strategy, supported by clear action plans for targeted improvements.

Avieco worked with Oak Furnitureland to conduct an ESG materiality assessment to map the relevant topics, review the level of impact, gather views across the organisation and set the foundation for action – a sustainability strategy integrated with the brand values and level of ambition expected.

Oak Furnitureland was faced with several wide-ranging ESG issues that matter to customers and internal stakeholders to varying degrees, so the first step was to create effective engagement across operations, logistics, supply chain, legal and marketing & communications to review risks, opportunities, and action plans to develop a prioritised view of topics by level of importance, and impact to the company.

The process was facilitated by a high level of collaboration from Oak Furnitureland’s internal teams and senior leadership, with contributions from over 200 employees across the business. The strategic framework was built on existing sustainability initiatives and good practices implemented in the supply chain, with a view to further build on the product strengths (high-quality, durable and made with responsibly sourced materials) to drive further action to support circularity, oak stewardship, low carbon operations and safeguarding of human rights.

Process employed for establishing a robust and impactful ESG strategy & framework for action

THE OUTCOME

Implementing a vision for sustainability at Oak Furnitureland that is relevant, impactful and in alignment with the company values to meet customer expectations

Avieco’s collaboration with Oak Furnitureland has led to a notable level of internal engagement on ESG-related topics. The strategy development sparked interest across the organisation and unveiled a strong employee interest in sustainability.

The sustainability framework revolves around Oak Furnitureland’s timeless hardwood furniture products, ensuring they meet the expectations from a quality perspective and preserving their value over many years. This is a core pillar of the strategy embedded in the business model – creating products from natural materials, which are sourced and manufactured responsibly and delivered in packaging that protects items from damage, which is then kept in the economic loop through reuse and recycling.

Moreover, the strategy also reflects the urgency to mitigate climate change, by focusing on quantifying key emissions impacts and prioritising decarbonisation across operations. Avieco worked with Oak Furnitureland to translate the vision into practice by building an actual plan, with key actions to pursue over the short-, medium- and long-term. Ongoing collaboration and coordination across the organisation will be paramount to further integrate ESG practices and monitor progress.

For more information, please contact:

Corina Radu, Principal Consultant

corina.radu@avieco.com

T: 02070480450